'An institution': Scott's last day at UW

Today’s the last day at work for Catharine Scott (right), who’s been cleaning out her corner office in Needles Hall these last few days, taking home her beeping-and-flashing model of the Starship Enterprise and recycling old reports she never had time to throw away before.

Scott’s retirement ends a 36-year UW career, including 13 years as associate provost (human resources and student services), the top executive in charge of everything from payroll to health and counselling services.

“Just imagine how much fun that is!” she said last week. “The telephone has something different every time it rings — all those people that I work with have such fascinating jobs.”

Her own job at UW started in 1973 when, after working for a while in human resources for a retail chain, she was hired as a “salary assistant” in what the university then called the personnel department. From that day on, she says, she’s been “blessed with the greatest bosses and the greatest colleagues”.

Scores of them turned out earlier this month for a farewell reception in South Campus Hall. UW president David Johnston was the main speaker, describing Scott as “an institution within an institution . . . responsible for making the Waterloo university experience something truly special”.

He also took the opportunity to tease her about “her skill behind the wheel of a speeding golf cart”, seen during orientation week as she races from one campus site to another. Johnston stressed the reorganization of September orientation, in the late 1990s, as probably the biggest of Scott’s many contributions to the university. “Catharine, true to Waterloo’s spirit of collaboration, worked with, not against, our students’ representatives,” he said. “She started a conversation about what it meant to be a Waterloo student and what it meant to feel welcomed at the University of Waterloo . . . this was a collaborative partnership, and we are very proud of that relationship. Talk about leaving something better behind!”

And when Scott herself lists some of her best memories of the years at Waterloo, almost the first thing she mentions is “all the orientation programs” but, especially, the first toga party, held on the Saturday night of orientation 1998.

“I didn’t have a clue, when I came into this job, what would be needed,” she claims, and she gives huge credit to Mario Bellabarba, president of the Federation of Students 1996-97 and 1997-98. “He taught me so much about students,” she says. The two worked as partners on many issues, including the creation of the joint orientation committee that’s still in operation.

His successors as Federation president also come in for high praise: “I liked every single one of them, and they’re all still friends.” And she takes the opportunity to mention that the Federation of Students leadership isn’t “a student council job” at UW, but “a serious, corporate, responsible job” with staff, budget and university-wide responsibilities. “We have the best relationship with our Federation — we’re the envy of other universities.”

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'We're so good, it's almost arrogance'

Catharine Scott looks at UW, mentions “what a great place it is to work”, and spreads the credit widely. But she gives perhaps the largest share to Ernie Lucy, who was director of personnel when she came here in 1973 and subsequently served as director of employee and student services, the equivalent of today’s associate provost role, from 1983 to his retirement in 1991.

“Ernie started the legacy,” she says, “the concept of an enlightened university with respect to human relations. Ernie taught me and Bob that,” referring to Bob Elliott, the executive who headed UW’s human resources between Lucy and Scott. “People who are here have a responsibility to continue with the good things that other people have begun.”

Among those “good things”, she says, are such ideas as a grievance procedure for staff — just about unique when it was introduced at UW in the 1970s — as well as the promotion-from-within policy, flextime, an extensive staff training program, and a staff relations committee at which management and employee representatives talk freely. She’s particularly proud of the “Basic Principles of the UW Workplace”, introduced a decade ago as part of the training program that thousands of staff members have now taken.

“It’s not that we do everything perfectly,” she says, “but we can always strive to get better. That’s why we’re so good. It’s almost arrogance: we really are good, and we don’t want ever to not be.”

Scott has a reputation as a strong personality. “I don’t think anybody would ever say that I don’t speak my mind,” she admits, “but I wasn’t paid to be quiet and unassuming. My job was to lead! I like to think that my way is the way that brings freedom to other people.”

Last summer she gave up part of her responsibilities, with the appointment of Janet Passmore to be associate provost (human resources). Effective today, her student services duties go to Bud Walker, UW’s director of business operations, while a review of the whole portfolio is completed.

Scott herself is heading off for three months in South Carolina — a favourite vacation spot, but always for short visits until now, along with her husband, Norm Scott, who retired a few weeks ago as an instructor in UW’s biology department. “We’re going to travel a lot,” she says. She adds that there will also be plenty of time in Waterloo, where the couple have been enjoying their young granddaughter. “And I’ve got tons of projects that I haven’t had time for,” she adds, mentioning crafts, piano lessons and volunteer work.

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Co-op student 'going to work my hardest'

by Karina Graf, from the Inside Scoop newsletter for UW co-op students

Two weeks into her four-month work term, Sharon Mak walked up to the president of Toyota Canada. “I understand you’re looking for new, creative ideas for Toyota,” she said. “Can you give me 20 minutes of your time?” After a few seconds of stunned silence — the president apparently unaccustomed to chatting with a co-op student — he said, “Absolutely. Arrange it with my assistant.”

As a 4A Arts & Business Speech Communications student with four successful work terms under her belt, Mak (left) was full of ideas. Her challenge was putting them into action. She explains, “To be honest, I’m only 21 years old. I need motivation. I’m lazy. It’s so easy to think of something, try to do it, and give up in the middle. I decided I can’t let my life go by like this any more. I have to do my best. I want to make a change. So after I talked to the president, he’s expecting to hear good ideas from me. That’s the pressure. That’s the biggest motivation I can get.”

Wanting to share all of her many ideas, the first version of her presentation clocked in at an unacceptably long 90 minutes. Working with her national manager, through months of work and seven project iterations, she was able to cut the presentation time down to only 20 minutes and three main points. Improving Toyota’s internal communication through more comprehensive staff information and standardized webcasts, as well as plans for soliciting fresh ideas from all stakeholders were the central ideas.

It wasn’t easy. Besides her regular job duties for Dealer Process and planning her presidential presentation, Mak improved a manual data-entry process, automating it, increasing the efficiency and accuracy of report generation. Her employers recognized her hard work, awarding her a Toyota Recognition Award. “I believe I was the only co-op who got this award during that term,” she says. “And that’s actually one aspect of the job that made an impact on me and really kept pushing me further.”

Despite her effort, Mak sensed that some people seemed threatened instead of appreciative. “People always asked me, ‘Why are you so motivated? Why are you so energized?’ I guess my biggest challenge was figuring out what’s appropriate and what’s not. I’ve learned that sometimes respect is the key. I’m not trying to step on anybody’s toes to excel myself. The reason I’m doing this is not to outshine the department or anybody in it or to accelerate in the company. I know I’m going to be gone after four months, but I just thought since I have ideas, I want to be talking to the right person.”

After all her hard work, Mak never had the opportunity to present to the president. “Because of the economic crisis he was travelling quite a bit to Japan, so by the end of the work term we didn’t end up getting a presentation with him. But what I did get to do is present in front of two whole departments. Even now my manager is still organizing it to be presented to a few more departments, such as HR and marketing because it might be beneficial to them.”

While approaching the president of a large company with a proposal might seem daunting to some, Mak believes it was the right move. “I don’t know if I did the perfect thing with this presentation but I definitely have no regrets this term. I did my best. My principle is that while I’m sitting at the office for eight hours, why not give it my all? You hired me, you trust me, and I’m going to work my hardest for you.”

CAR

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